Ralph Bagot (-c1377)
}} ''Collections for a History of Staffordshire, Volume 11'' "Ralph Bagot derives his sole claim to distinction from his marriage with Elizabeth, the heiress of the Blithfields. He was never knighted, and appears to have taken no part in the military operations of Edward III on the Continent. At the date of his father's death he was a minor, and as his mother Eglina had been enfeoffed jointly with his father, Sir John, in the manor of Bagots Bromley, she would hold it for her life. About two years after his father's death she took for a second husband Sir William de Pounfreth, who styles himself lord of Bromley Bagot in 25 E. III. and seals with a shield showing three bars on it. I suspect, however, that he is identical with a William Proudfoth of Abbots Bromley, who occurs as a witness to Blithfield deeds and that he had only blossomed into a knight after his marriage with Eglina. On the 25th July, 1350, Eglina, formerly wife of John Bagot, Kt. made a grant to William del Schawe for his life all the messuages, lands, etc, which Ralph Bagot formerly held in Attesale (Yeatsall) within the fee of Bromley Bagot, for which he was to render only a rose on St. John's Day and a pair of gloves at Christmas. The Ralph here mentioned, was a younger son of the house, who had left no issue, and the deed exemplifies the facility with which an inheritance could be wasted in former days by a tenant for life, for Eglina obtained no doubt by this transaction a sum of ready money in lieu of a money rent. In the following year, by a deed dated 20th July, 1351, John de Knyghtslegh and William de Gnowsale, chaplain, released to the Lady Eglina, late wife of Sir John Bagot, Kt. all the lands, rents and services of their tenants in Bromley Bagot. The two grantors in this deed must have been trustees put in for uses and the deed shows clearly that Eglina held the manor for her life. Ralph Bagot must have been of full age in June, 1355[[, when he executed Deeds No. 68 and 69 of the Appendix. By the first of these which is dated from Stafford, 11th June, [[1355 he releases to Sir James Pype all his rights in the land and tenements in Hertwalle which James held by the feoffment of Roger Wymer. In the second deed, which is dated 12th June, 1355, he confirms his mother's grant to William del Schawe, which has been mentioned above. By a deed dated the 2nd July of this year, William del Pounfret, Kt. of Bromley Bagod and Eglena, his wife, convey to William del Schawe of Bromley the tenement which Richard le Spenser had held for his life by gift of Sir John Bagot. The employment of the adjective 'del' in this deed in place of 'de' tends to confirm my supposition that he as the same person as the William Proudfoth of Abbot's Bromley, for it shows that Proudfreit was not a local designation. In other deeds at Blithfield the name is written Pounfreth and Pountfreth. It may be assumed that, in pursuance of the usual custom of former days, Ralph had been married whilst a minor, and been brought up by his wife's family. In 1351 he appears to have been resident in Colton, for he is defendant in a suit respecting land in that place. In 33 E. III. (1359), Ralph Bagot and Isabella, his wife, sued Isabella, formerly wife of William Sautcheverel, to give up to them chattels of the value of L30, which she unjustly detained. If this Ralph is Ralph Bagot of Bromley, he had apparently married a second wife, but the Plea Rolls in Volume XIII of the Staffordshire Collections show that there was a Ralph Bagot of Newton living at this period, who might easily be mistaken for him. According to the Chetwynd MSS, Ralph occurs as lord of Blithfield for the first time in 1362. This is a very likely date, for the second great pestilence of this era lasted from the 15th of August, 1361, to the 3rd of May, 1362, and it probably carried off several members of the Blithfield family; the last male heir of the Blithfield, according to the deeds, was a Henry, who was a minor and in ward to William Poure in 1358. In September, 1361, Ralph had also succeeded to his inheritance in Bromley Bagot, for in that year, by his deed dated from Bromley Bagot on Thursday after the Feast of St. Matthew the Apostle, 35 E. III., he conveyed to Andrew Bagod for his life all the land which had been formerly in the possession of Robert Bagod in Attesole (Yearsall) within the fee of Bromley Bagod. Ralph occurs again in a suit of 38 E. III. (1364), in Which John de Charnels sued John Wolseley, Ralph Bagot of Bromley, and Humfrey de Ruggeley in a plea that whereas he held a wood in Wolseley jointly with the said John, Ralph and Humfrey, pro indiviso, the defendants would not allow a partition to be made between them according to law and custom. The defendants did not appear, and the Sheriff was ordered to distrain and produce them at the next term. The de Banco Roll of the following term is missing, and not further notice of this suit has been found. The latest appearance of Ralph occurs in Blithfield deed of 31 E. III. (1367), by which Henry de Blithfield (his wife's uncle) convey to Ralph Bagot, Lord of Blithfield, part of a meadow called the Blythmore which he had, the gift of Richard de Hampton. He was dead before 1376, for in that year his son John was suing the custos of his lands for causing waste and destruction of them. There are only three deeds of this Ralph at Blithfield, all of which are printed in the Appendix. The seals of two of these deeds are preserved, and show a shield with a bend on it. Amongst the MS notes appended to the memorials of the family by Lord Bagot is one which states that in one of these deeds viz. No. 69 in the Appendix, Ralph used the seal of his brother-in-law, Henry de Bradeburn, viz. a bend charged with three mullets, but in the body of the deed itself, Ralph distinctly calls it his own seal, and he uses the same seal in the deed of 1361 (No. 71 of the Appendix). The matter of the armorial bearings of the family comes up for discussion. According to the 'Memorials of the Bagot Family.' Ralph married Elizabeth the daughter and heiress of Richard de Blithfield. That he married the heiress of the Blithfields is beyond question, and both Erdeswick and Chetwynd describe her as the daughter of Richard, but if the test of chronology is applied to the pedigree of the Blithfields, it will be seen that it is far more probable that the heiress was daughter of John de Blithfield, and sister and heiress of the last Richard de Blithfield."